Old School, Memories & Reality TV

Seven holes on my face as I look out the window, speak with the beat & it feels like the wind blows….Ahhhh the good ‘ol days when Hip Hop was from the heart, life was simpler & real was, well real.  What happened to those times when we would get excited about a new track, congregate on the corner & just cool out listening to it?  The music, although simple, moved us with its passion and melodies.  It didn’t matter what the message was, from KRS’ “My Philosophy”, Public Enemies “Fight the Power” or Naughty’s “OPP”, the music meant something to us.  It was ours, created from the same corners we would listen to it from.  The boom boxes or car radios blaring, the linoleum rolled out & the ambiance was all fun.  Somewhere though the music lost it’s innocence.  it was replace by corporate pirates who stole the creativity & in my opinion, the pure joy of the music.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are still hits out there, artists that can still make one feel the energy or evoke feelings of self, but on a whole it’s gone.  Replaced by pseudo talents with very little substance.  I know some of you younger folks are thinking that older people always think their times were better than the current versions.  Well, I agree, most times the new is better than the old, but NOT with Hip Hop.  It just isn’t.  It’s to the point where I can’t listen to it much anymore.  There is just too much garbage out there.  Don’t believe me, just count how many Hip Hop is dead themed songs have been produced.  Very few artists today have anything of value to say.  Most of the lyrics, at least those that are played on the radio or “sell” are shallow.  There are lyrical artist still out there, but they can’t seem to sell, to reach the masses.  Why?  Because we live in a current time within a society where fake is the new real.  Where everyone is focused on instant gratification and beemers, benz’ or bentley’s.  Where Reality TV shows blur our vision.  The other day my kids where watching a popular reality show & a sadness came over me.  I questioned my parenting, asking myself how had I let my kids down, where they actual thought this was a “good show”.  These new age shows are not real at all.  It is basically all wanna be’s acting a certain way for cameras they know are there.  They are prompted to act certain ways and respond to things in a way that creates drama.  And we wonder why the world is so full of drama kings or queens.  We have kids now thinking this is actually how people should handle things.  Somehow we have lost our way; my wish is we find our way back.  Like Pac once said “Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.”